Shadows In A Mirror
by Go-Go Spiders
Summary: “Thanks to your Daddy, you're a creature of shadows born to a woman of light. That's a rare thing in my book. Figured if anyone would agree to help my poor Friend regain some of his darkness, it might be you, Raven.” Dr. Facilier/Adult!Raven COMPLETE
1. Part One

Shadows In A Mirror

Part One

by Go-Go Spiders

A 'Princess and the Frog'/'Teen Titans' crossover

Rating: PG-13

Pairing: Dr. Facilier (The Princess and the Frog)/Adult!Raven (Teen Titans)

***

Facilier grinned as the woman bound within the summoning circle attempted to eradicate the symbols drawn on the floorboards of his Emporium. He liked a woman with a bit of the devil in her, and this one practically radiated with the darkest kind of magic.

"No good, darlin', you ain't getting out of there 'till I say so."

The woman, lithe but still pleasingly curvy, spun on her heels to face him, her long blue cloak billowing behind her. The hood of her cloak was pulled down over her head, placing most of her face in shadow. Eyes as dark as her cloak glared at him from underneath the cowl. Without a word, she drew back her hand as it was enveloped in darkness, then thrust it out in front of her, aiming for his face.

The dark energy dissipated into nothing as soon as it hit the protective wards of the circle, leaving Facilier untouched. He laughed. "I'm not a stupid man, darlin'. Honestly think I'd try to summon anything without botherin' to protect myself first?"

"You're a stupid man for even trying to summon me," the woman hissed, her eyes cold.

"Maybe, maybe not," said Facilier, gracefully flipping his hat off his head. "Could I have summoned a lesser shadow being instead? Probably. But the daughter of Trigon?" He grinned again, falling into a mock bow before placing his hat back on top of his head. "Now, that's an accomplishment, if I do say so myself."

The woman glared at Facilier, then at the shadow behind Facilier, which was doing its best to look as nonchalant as a shadow moving independently of its owner could.

"What is it you want?" She asked, suddenly sounding very tired.

Facilier snapped his fingers, and his shadow sluggishly approached the circle, being careful to not cross over the symbols drawn around the woman. Facilier put his arms around his shadow. "My Friend here seems to be having a bit of trouble. See, he was part of the deal I made with the Other Side, but he's lost some of himself to the light. There have been some times when I've needed him to help me and he's just been nothing but a normal shadow. I've tried everythin' I can think of, but he keeps getting' worse."

"Then why don't you call your other 'Friends'?," asked the woman. "They could probably help you more then I could."

"I would, but they keep asking for more than I can afford to pay them," said Facilier. "Thanks to your Daddy, you're a creature of shadows born to a woman of light. That's a rare thing in my book. Figured if anyone would agree to help my poor Friend regain some of his darkness, it might be you, Raven."

Raven looked at the shadow again. It glanced up at her, its shoulder slumped. She sighed softly. If the shadow's owner had already dug himself in that deep to the Other Side, he probably needed all the help he could get at this point.

And besides, it was probably the only way he'd let her out of the summoning circle. She couldn't stay inside it forever.

"I can't help you from inside the circle," she said. "If you release me, I'll see what I can do. But no promises. If there's nothing I can do, you let me leave this place."

Faciler rubbed out the chalk symbols in front of Raven with his shoe, breaking the circle. "It's a deal."

***

Facilier was seated on the floor in the back of his Emporium, a tall candle the only thing between him and Raven. Raven hung suspended in the air half a foot above the floorboards, her legs crossed in front of her. The cloak wafted gently behind her, moving in a breeze Facilier couldn't feel.

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos. Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos." Raven spoke quietly. "Azarath, Metrion, Zin-thoooss," she lightly hissed. Raven slowly opened her eyes, which shone white. Dark energy crackled in her palms seemed to spin around the woman's body, tossing her hair and cloak around violently. The shadow of a large raven appeared from the darkest folds of her cloak, hovering above her body for a moment before beating its black wings and letting loose a screech that shook the dust from the rickety wooden rafters of his Emporium.

Facilier's shadow shrank back from the raven, sliding down the wall to hide behind its master. Facilier shot it an annoyed look. It looked bad to have his shadow cower before a display of that kind of power, even if inside, deep deep down, he was shivering in fear himself.

Sudden doubts in his plan began to engulf him. He'd just set loose the daughter of Trigon. Trigon, one of the most dangerous beings from the Other Side, who would like nothing more than to see the world become a hunk of rock devoid of all life. What had he been thinking, asking her of all people for help?

Then the bird enveloped both him and his shadow in its giant wings and he was lost to the darkness.

***

Facilier awoke the next morning on the floor, naked and tangled up in Raven's large cloak. Muscles he didn't even know he had ached slightly as he stretched his arms and legs out underneath the blue cloak. Raven was curled beside him, her grey skin still covered with a thin sheen of sweat from the night's activities. An electric lamp knocked on its side illuminated the mischief his shadow had gotten up to when its owner had finally fallen asleep. Facilier's shadow turned a cartwheel against the wall, healthy and vibrant again. Whatever Raven had done – at this point he could only vaguely recall sensations but what pleasurable sensations they had been, her fingers carassing his chest, her lips against his neck – must have worked. He hadn't seen his shadow that energetic since he'd first made that deal with the Other Side.

He kissed the red chakra gem on Raven's forehead lightly. "For a daughter of a devil, you sure are heavenly in bed."


	2. Part Two

Shadows In A Mirror

Part Two

by Go-Go Spiders

A 'Princess and the Frog'/'Teen Titans' crossover

Rating: PG-13

Pairing: Dr. Facilier (The Princess and the Frog)/Adult!Raven (Teen Titans)

***

Raven wasn't sure what to think of Facilier.

While there was no doubt he was a clever man, perhaps he was a little too clever for his own good. He knew the best way to mess with his clients' heads, but summoning the daughter of one of the most powerful beings on the Other Side had been an act of arrogance, second only to trying to summon Trigon himself. Facilier's power was strong for borrowed secondhand magic, but hers was stronger as it came directly from her blood. Facilier had put himself in a situation where Raven could've killed him if she had wanted to. She was not bound to her promises like he was. Choking the life out of him from within her shadow soul-self would have been simple. But Facilier had counted on her desire to be more then her demonic heritage and on his own ability to charm her.

Facilier was a trickster, a conman who swindled people who should've known better out of their money. He took their wishes, hopes, and desires and twisted them around until they were unrecognizable. But despite her better judgement, she did like him. She had to admire his intelligence; he had figured out that the 'gem' in an ancient prophecy regarding Trigon bringing about the end of the world was a daughter and not a gemstone decades before the daughter would be born. He had cobbled together a summoning circle that had both called her from her own time and withstood the force of her stronger magic. He had stood his ground against a woman of much greater shadow powers than himself.

His request was simple. A transfer of dark energy should've been quick: take them into her soul-self, infuse them with enough dark energy to reverse the effects of the light on Facilier's shadow, and bring them out again. Easy.

That shouldn't have ended in a one-night stand, but it had. During the brief moments when Facilier had been inside her soul, she had discovered a man very similar to herself; the threat of their dark powers consuming them, similar desires, similar fears. They'd started undressing each other as soon as her soul-self had returned to her body. His shadow had leered at the two of them from the wall as a slightly-dazed Facilier unhooked her ruby brooch and slid her cloak off her shoulders while she had untied the red sash from around his waist.

Soon Raven and Facilier had stood before each other naked. His long fingers had run down the back of her neck as he admired her. She had smirked at him, her eyes mischievous, and curled a finger around a strand of his dark hair as she pulled him down to the floor.

She wondered for a moment if she'll regret this come the morning. She doesn't.

***

Several weeks after their first encounter, Facilier called her again. Unlike the first time, where she had been violently ripped out of her study without warning by the summoning spell Facilier had cast, this time Facilier's shadow appeared on the wall of her study, somehow slipping past the defensive wards she had drawn around the room.

It tugged urgently at the hem of her cloak. She jerked from the spellbook she'd been trying to translate in surprise, then let out a loud breath as she recognized the silhouette. Facilier's shadow tugged again, gesturing wildly for her to follow it.

"Something's happened," said Raven. The shadow quickly nodded, still clutching the bottom of her cloak.

She appeared from a dark corner of Facilier's Voodoo Emporium to find Facilier sitting on the edge of his bed, bloodied and bruised almost beyond recognition. His shadow was doing its best to stop the bleeding with limited success.

"Hey there, darlin," Facilier said quitely, managing a weak smile as blood dribbled down his face. "Glad you got my message." He spat a tooth covered in bloody saliva into his hand and offered it to her. "If you could put this back in for me, I'd sure appreciate it."

His shadow hovered above nervously as Raven silently healed the wounds inflicted on its master with her magic. Facilier remained still as her dark energy danced over his injuries, his eyes shut and breathing slow, leaning against Raven for support. When the purple bruises had vanished from his skin and the wounds had closed, they had sat together in silence for a moment.

"You're not going to tell me what happened, are you?" Raven asked.

Facilier's mouth twisted into a bitter frown, but he said nothing before she left the next morning.

That was the last time she saw Facilier alive.

***

The next time Raven visits Facilier's Voodoo Emporium, she comes uninvited. There are cobwebs hanging from the rafters when she enters. The place is in ruins, jars broken, tapestries ripped from the walls and tables, books missing from the shelves, decks of tarot cards scattered on the floor, windows smashed.

What bothers her most of all is that she can't feel Facilier's presence anywhere.

She flies across the darkened sky of New Orleans undetected by most mortal eyes. When she approaches Lafeyette Cemetery No. 1, she feels a twinge of Faciler's magic. Just a small tug, nothing more.

Raven lands among the tombstones of the cemetery, letting the small pull of his magic lead her along through the rows of graves. She already suspects what she will find at the end.

Instead, she first finds the fragments of a clay talisman lying in the weeds across from a crypt, and she feels a sinking sensation in the pit of her stomach. Even broken and without the blood fueling it, the talisman still burns with the power of the Other Side, and the fingerprints of Facilier's magic still clings to it.

In a sudden burst of anger, Raven stomps on the clay fragments, reducing them to little more then dust.

She looks up at the crypt, tears of frustration and loss threatening to spill over. Engraved in relief is Facilier's screaming face, a look of pure terror in his eyes. Approaching it, Raven touches the stone relief gently, tracing the contours of the carved face with her finger.

She'd hoped he'd have more time, but the Other Side has already claimed him.


	3. Part Three

Shadows In A Mirror

Part Three

by Go-Go Spiders

A 'Princess and the Frog'/'Teen Titans' crossover

Rating: PG-13

Pairing: Dr. Facilier (The Princess and the Frog)/Adult!Raven (Teen Titans)

***

Wiping at her eyes, Raven looked over her shoulder as a small elderly black woman using a snake for a cane approached the crypt slowly. She pushed her dark glasses back up her nose when she stopped in front of Facilier's crypt, large discs of gold swinging from both her ears. She smiled a toothless grin at Raven as the large snake slither up her arm and wrapped itself over the back of her neck.

"Hello there, little Miss Birdie," the woman said."Y'all look rather upset. At least, that's was my JuJu tells me. Can't see my own feet with these old eyes nowadays, so I take his word for it most of the time."

"JuJu?" Raven asked.

The elderly woman laughed. "Oh goodness, where are my manners? Forgot to introduce y'all. JuJu here's Mama Odie's snake." She kissed the snake's forehead, and its small forked tongue flicked out in happiness.

"...You're Mama Odie?" asked Raven, staring at her. "The Voodoo Queen of New Orleans?"

"Aw, y'all heard of me?" she asked, showing her gums again.

"Kind of," said Raven uneasily. "I heard you were dead."

Mama Odie cackled again, clutching her stomach. "Naw, that's just what I like people to think. Honestly, those folks wouldn't give me a moment's peace if they thought otherwise. But I'm still kickin' around on the livin' side." She glanced at the face carved into the granite crypt and winced. "Can't say the same for that Shadowman, though."

At the mention of Facilier, Raven's mouth quivered almost imperceptibly. But Mama Odie rubbed her chin thoughtfully before exchanging a glance with her pet. She took JuJu from around her neck and straightened the snake into a cane, turning back towards the entrance to the cemetery. "Come with me, child. I think we need to have a little chat. And maybe something hot to drink."

***

"Y'all take honey in your tea, little Birdie?" asked Mama Odie, knocking the teapot off the table with her elbow. JuJu balanced the scaldingly hot teapot on top of its head, hissing in pain before sliding it back onto the table.

"That's fine," said Raven, seated at the small table. She glanced around the inside of the Voodoo Queen's boathouse while JuJu helped Mama Odie et down two teacups from a high shelf. The boathouse reminded her slightly of Facilier's Emporium, with the vast amounts of jars and bottles and pots and strange items lining the walls. It did make sense – both Facilier and Mama Odie were Voodoo practitioners. But while Facilier had been the shadows, Mama Odie was the light. She almost glowed with it.

Mama Odie hooked the teapot's handle with JuJu and poured out the tea for both her and Raven. JuJu uncoiled himself to pull back Mama Odie's chair as she sat down. She took a small sip from her steaming cup, smacking her lips afterwards. "Herbal tea. Grew and dried them out myself."

Raven took a sip from her teacup as well, letting the taste of the tea linger on her tongue. "It's good," she said quietly.

"Why, thank you kindly Miss Birdie," she said, taking another sip. She set the teacup down, allowing JuJu to flick its tongue in and out of the tea. "Now, why don't you tell us why y'all were at the Shadowman's crypt this mornin'?"

Raven took a long sip before answering. "I was looking for him."

Mama Odie idly scratched the top of JuJu's head. "And why's that?"

"I...I was worried. The last time I'd seen him, he'd been injured pretty badly. I healed him up as best as I could, but when he didn't try to contact me after that, I thought something might've happened to him."

"Hmmn, well, you was right about that one," Mama Odie said thoughtfully, taking another sip.

Raven looked down into her chipped cup. "I wish I hadn't been."

Mama Odie took another spoonful of honey and mixed it into her tea. "Tell me, little Birdie, why are you so worried about the Shadowman?"

Raven ran her thumb over the handle of her teacup nervously. "Because..."

"Because?" Mama Odie repeated.

"He trusts me." Raven paused a moment before adding, "I think."

Mama Odie raised one eyebrow. "Really now? That man don't trust nobody but his own shadow."

"When he was hurt, he sent his shadow to me for help instead of his Friends on the Other Side. I have the same kind of shadow magic he got from the Other Side but he knew I wouldn't try to trick him out of his life. I don't use my magic for dark purposes, I use them to protect and heal."

"But do you trust him, Birdie?" asked Mama Odie as she placed her hand over Raven's. "Y'all know what he's like, I bet, conning everything with a hefty bankroll."

"I'm not sure," Raven admitted. "I've had some issues with that in the past. My last serious relationship ended when the man I loved tricked me." She grimaced. "He turned into a giant dragon and tried to burn me alive."

Mama Odie gave a low whistle. "Goodness."

"But now I don't know what to do. I don't think it's even possible to get Facilier back from the Other Side, and part of me is wondering if he deserves what happened to him." Raven stared down at her reflection in the tea. "I just don't want to be tricked again," she said.

"Darlin', usually I'm a little less blunt then this, but y'all can't love nobody if you can't bring yourself to trust them. Our hearts and our minds are usually at odds, and there are some times to listen to one and some times to listen to the other. What does your heart want?"

"To see him again," said Raven quitely

Mama Odie nodded. "And what's your mind think of that?"

"It's a very bad idea."

The Voodoo Queen leaned back in her chair. "Then y'all got a choice to make, Birdie."


	4. Part Four

Shadows In A Mirror

Part Four

by Go-Go Spiders

A 'Princess and the Frog'/'Teen Titans' crossover

Rating: PG-13

Pairing: Dr. Facilier (The Princess and the Frog)/Adult!Raven (Teen Titans)

***

Raven stood in the center of Facilier's abandoned Emporium. She had felt a compulsion to return to the Emporium once she'd left the bayou. For what reason, she didn't know.

Out of curiosity, she pulled back one of the few wall hangings that hadn't been stolen to discover a circular mirror in an ornate silver frame, decorated with skulls and twisting snakes. A long crack ran down the center of the black glass, distorting her faint reflection. Surrounding the broken mirror were various veves and symbols scrawled on the wall. Two of the more prominent ones appeared to be a bird drawn in black powder with four red eyes and a smiling skull wearing a large top hat.

She stared at the two symbols and the mirror for a moment. With a quick jerk, she yanked the tapestry off the wall entirely, and it landed in a cloud of dust at her feet.

Raven touched the black glass and felt a small shiver run through her. She'd found Facilier's scrying glass. Although it was damaged and now useless for scrying, it still held a small sliver of Facilier's magic, likely left over from many attempts to gaze into the future.

She looked into the mirror, thinking. If his scrying glass still had a faint echo of Facilier's magic, it was possible that some of his other possessions did as well.

Pursing her lips, she looked around the vacant Emporium before holding out her hand. A black cane flew through the air from one dusty forgotten corner of the room and landed in her palm. On the top of the cane was a large purple glass ball. Raven allowed herself a hint of a smile and twirled the cane between her fingers. This would do nicely.

She looked down at her feet and noticed the scattered deck of tarot cards. Raven picked up the cards and gave them a quick shuffle. The black mirror, the cards and the cane were all items that had very faint traces of Facilier's magic. Together, they might just be enough.

Raven was going to try to peer into the Other Side. Her actual body wouldn't be able to cross over, not by herself, but maybe it would be possible to at least find Facilier among his fellow lost souls on the Other Side. She was careful to remove the other veves around the mirror with her power, leaving only the bird and the skull symbols untouched. She didn't want to attract the attention of his other Friends.

Standing in front of the broken mirror, Raven fanned the tarot deck in one hand and crossed it with Facilier's cane. She closed her eyes, concentrating heavily. Gathering together the very small amount of Facilier's shadow magic she felt from within his belongings was difficult, but soon she felt the last lingering traces of his power resonate from within her.

Her eyes snapped open, blazing white light. Raven threw her arms apart and shouted, "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" as loudly as she could. Twin bolts of dark energy shot from the objects in her hands to the cracked scrying glass. The black surface rippled and the faint image of herself and Facilier's Emporium in the glass faded into something else...

Raven squinted, trying to make out what she was seeing.

A lanky male body, lying curled in the center of a circular rock. His clothing was gone, leaving him naked. The rock was surrounded by a large group of his Friends, who hovered over him, clearly cackling even if Raven couldn't hear them. He presses his long hands to his ears, trying to drown them out.

Raven's heart thudded against her ribcage. "No. Oh no. Facilier..."

In the scrying glass, she saw the man lift his head slightly, as if he had faintly heard someone call his name.

Her eyes widened. Had he heard her? "Facilier!" she shouted at the mirror.

The man looked up, his eyes wide. She saw the image of the man speak, and a moment later, she heard Facilier's voice quietly ask, "Raven?" as if he had been standing in front of her.

With that, the mirror shattered, sending shards of black glass tumbling to the floor.

Raven stared down at the shards for a moment, unsure of what had happened.

Mirrors didn't usually explode. The Other Side had seen that she'd tried to spy in from the Living Side and had destroyed the scrying glass. So much for that idea.

She turned away from the destroyed mirror, before holding up Facilier's Tarot deck.

"Maybe you can give me some answers," she muttered before shuffling the cards again. Quickly Raven knelt down and laid several of the cards face-down before her in a key pattern. "If you can tell me what happened while I was gone, I'd appreciate it," she said to no one in particular.

One by one, she flipped the cards over. Her expression clouded as the cards told her a very interesting story.

The Devil. The Magician. The Lovers. The Fool. The Hanged Man. Justice. Death.

Her lips quivered. She'd been tricked again.

***

The last time Raven saw Facilier, he was neither dead or alive. He hanged somewhere in-between.

Raven's soul-self appeared before him during a rare lull in his torture on the Other Side. The bird shadow twisted into the shape of a woman, wearing a long hooded cloak.

It took him a moment to recognize it. "Raven!"

She refused to meet his gaze.

He didn't care. "Please, please, Raven, you have to get me out of here. Please, I promise I'll do anything, please just get me out of here."

"I can't," she said quietly.

"Please," he pleaded.

"You brought this upon yourself, Facilier."

"Darlin', I---"

Suddenly, she towered over him, four red eyes staring into his very soul. Tendrils of shadow emerged from underneath her cloak, twisting towards Facilier. "Don't you _dare_ call me that," she growled, a demonic rasp to her voice.

Facilier's pleas died in his throat.

"You were a mistake. I should never have loved you. This is nothing more then you deserve, you evil man." Raven paused, then shrank back to her normal appearance. There were tears in her eyes. "I trusted you," she said, her voice breaking.

With that, Raven's soul self returned to the Living Side as the Friends returned, eager to play with their newest offering.

***

Mama Odie was not surprised to discover Raven at her table in the middle of the night. JuJu helped her into the chair next to the robed woman and rubbed her back comfortingly.

Raven buried her face in her hands. "I made my choice," she managed to choke out between sobs.

"I know it hurts, child," said Mama Odie soothingly. "But it was the right one."


End file.
